In the second part of my Family Jewels series I’d like to introduce you to my ‘star’.

I first became aware of the story of ‘the star’ from Doris Star (aka Granny), whilst she was recuperating at home after a long stint in hospital, I was sat keeping her company as she reminisced about the family’s past characters and events.

Doris explained that ‘the star’ had belonged to her father Cecil Star and was designed to hang from his watch chain, she remembered it well.

Cecil died at the relatively young age of 53 and reading between the lines I would say that Doris was the apple of his eye, she had certainly felt his death keenly at the tender ago of 19.

After Doris’ death 2010 there was some speculation that the blue stone in the middle was a sapphire but on a recent visit to the BBC’s Antiques Road Show I was reliably informed by Geoffrey Munn that it was in fact blue glass. The hallmark is difficult to read but Geoffery felt that it had been made in Birmingham in approximately 1897.